The lung dose derived from radon is not attributed to the radon gas itself, but instead to its short-lived progeny. However, in many epidemiological studies as well as in case control studies of the radon risk, the excess number of cancers are related to the radon gas exposure, and not to the radon progeny exposure. A justification for such an approach has resorted to the assumption that there ...

Radon is likely the second most common cause of lung cancer after smoking. We estimated the lung cancer risk due to radon using common risk models. Based on national radon survey data, we estimated the population-attributable fraction (PAF) and the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to radon. The exposure-age duration (EAD) and exposure-age concentration (EAC) models were used. The regio...

Radon has been identified as the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. (222)Rn (radon gas) and (220)Rn (thoron gas) are the most common isotopes of radon. In order to assess thoron contribution to indoor radon and thoron exposure, a survey of residential radon and thoron concentrations was initiated in 2012 with ∼4000 homes in the 33 census metropolitan areas of Canada. The...

Residential and occupational exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking. As many as eight million homes in the US have elevated radon levels according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. High exposure levels in homes are largely a result of radon-contaminated gas rising from the soil. This makes it an unusual indoor air pollutant in that it ha...

The biodosimetric information is critical for assessment of cancer risk in populations exposed to high radon. However, no tools are available for biological dose estimation following radon exposure. Here, we established a γ-H2AX foci-based assay to determine biological dose to red bone marrow (RBM) in radon-inhaled rats. After 1-3 h of in vitro radon exposure, a specific pattern of γ-H2AX foci,...

Introduction: Internal exposure to radon gas progeny can lead to serious biologic damages to the lung tissue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the absorbed dose by lung tissue due to the exposure from short-lived radioactive products of radon (222Rn) decay using Monte Carlo simulation. Material and Methods: A lung equivalent p...

Background: Separate radon and thoron measurements in soil are very important in assessment of internal exposure due to inhalation of such radioactive gases. Materials and Methods: In this study, a low cost, small size, passive diffusion chamber has been developed for simple measurement of Radon-222 and Radon-220(Thoron) gases separately in soil. The diffusion chamber consists of two films and ...

BACKGROUND Increased brain tumour incidence over recent decades may reflect improved diagnostic methods and clinical practice, but remain unexplained. Although estimated doses are low a relationship between radon and brain tumours may exist. OBJECTIVE To investigate the long-term effect of exposure to residential radon on the risk of primary brain tumour in a prospective Danish cohort. METH...

BACKGROUND Several ecologic analyses have shown significant positive associations between mean indoor radon concentrations and risk of leukemia at all ages (acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and for children (all leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL]). As part of an age-matched, case-control study of childhood ALL in the United States, w...

In situ radon monitoring is necessary to characterize and qualify workplace and other environments in order to determine the need for occupational exposure assessments, to demonstrate compliance with standards and to verify the effectiveness of mitigation efforts. A web-based, energy sensitive electrostatic chamber radon monitoring system, developed at the University of Guelph, can be used to a...